LONDON (AP) – Airline passengers bound for the United States faced a hodgepodge of heightened security measures across Europe on Monday, but airports did not appear to be following a U.S. request for increased screening of passengers from 14 countries.
U.S. officials in Washington said the new security measures would be implemented Monday but there were few visible changes on the ground in Europe, which has thousands of passengers on hundreds of daily flights to the United States.
Large hubs such as London, Paris, Amsterdam and Frankfurt alone account for 20-30 trans-Atlantic flights a day each.
In Britain, a major international transport hub, a spokesman for the Department of Transportation said he was still trying to decipher the practical implications for Britain of the new U.S. rules. He refused to give his name due to the sensitivity of the subject.
U.S. authorities said as of Monday, anyone traveling from or through nations regarded as state sponsors of terrorism – as well as “other countries of interest” – will be required to go through enhanced screening. The Transportation Security Administration said those techniques would include full-body pat-downs, carryon bag searches, full-body scanning and explosive detection technology.
The U.S. State Department lists Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria as state sponsors of terrorism. The other countries whose passengers will face enhanced screening include Afghanistan, Algeria, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia and Yemen.
The new measures followed the arrest of a Nigerian man, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who allegedly tried to set off an explosive device on a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit on Christmas Day.
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There is no reason the international community should bear the burden of American paranoia, if the US is demanding these new security measures they should send the appropriate assets to enforce them themselves.
Its a double edged sword cause if foreign countries dont do it, their flights to the U.S. could be banned.
A terrorist attempts to blow up an airplane full of men women and children over a populated area. He only fails because of a faulty detonator or his own ineptness. Then he brags that there are more terrorist airplane bombers just like him on the way. So America is paranoid that more attacks may be imminent? Given the circumstances, accusing America of being paranoid (extreme or irrational fear) has got to be the stupidest thing I have heard in a very long while.
@beentheredonethat: Yes, America is paranoid, you can tell it’s paranoia because it fits the definition of paranoia
Things like not allowing books, pillows, and blankets fall into the “often to the point of irrationality” category.
@Undecided Voter: Good, let them be denied entry a few times, and then let America deal with the backlash – it beats the hell out of me shelling out more tax dollars to increase the CATSA budget so they can have enough people on staff to frisk every passenger flying from Ottawa to Vancouver because the plane happens to spend a little time in US air space.
Re#4. It is not a thought process. They were explicitly warned.
RE #3 : It’s only paranoia when the enemies are a delusion and only in your imagination.